US opens probe into Hillary’s links to Yunus

An investigation has been set in motion by the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary to look into the alleged interference by former Secretary Hillary Clinton, taking advantage of her position, to influence an "independent government investigation" against Muhammad Yunus.

Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the committee, issued a letter, on June 1, to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, seeking additional information on a range of issues, and interview of an US official, seemingly relevant to this inquiry.

"If the Secretary of State used her position to intervene in an independent investigation by a sovereign government simply because of a personal and financial relationship stemming from the Clinton Foundation rather than the legitimate foreign policy interests of the United States, then that would be unacceptable," Grassley wrote in the letter which he posted on his website.

"Co-mingling her official position as Secretary of State with her family foundation would be similarly inappropriate," he wrote.

"It is vital to determine whether the State Department had any role in the threat of an IRS audit against the son of the Prime Minister in retaliation for this investigation."

According to the letter, "The allegations of special treatment include reports of a threatened IRS audit of the Bangladeshi prime minister`s son, living in the United States, if he did not help quash a Bangladeshi government investigation of the businessman and Clinton organization donor, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

The letter said, for decades, Yunus has been heralded by the Clinton Foundation and has been showcased at a number of foundation functions.

"Bill Clinton also personally lobbied the Nobel Committee on behalf of Yunus, and in 2006 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."

According to reports, Yunus` companies donated $100,000 to $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative and $25,000 to $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

Upon Clinton`s appointment as secretary of state, the Clinton-Yunus relationship deepened. Secretary Clinton`s Department of State reportedly awarded more than $13 million in taxpayer funds to businesses aligned with Yunus.

This year on May 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina confirmed that Clinton called her office in March 2011 and demanded that Yunus be restored to his position of chairman of the Grameen Bank.

The website reads: "Sen. Chuck Grassley today asked the State Department for information on whether then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her staff sought help through official channels for a Bangladeshi businessman who also was a donor to the Clinton Global Initiative and Clinton Foundation."

Grassley wrote that emails show that State Department officials, including Clinton, and staff for the Clinton Foundation closely monitored an attempt to remove Yunus from his bank position in Bangladesh and that the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh sought meetings with the prime minister "to apply pressure in an attempt to end the investigation into Yunus."

The prime minister`s son said he was pressed multiple times by State Department officials to help end the investigation and that at one point, he was told "he may be audited by the IRS if he failed to use his influence to get his mother to drop the investigation into Yunus."

Grassley asked for details of whether any State Department official directly or indirectly suggested an IRS audit over the Bangladeshi investigation, whether the matter has been referred to the State Department inspector general or Justice Department for review, for unredacted copies of all State Department emails attached to his letter, and for an interview by Grassley staff of the State Department staff member who allegedly mentioned the IRS audit over a failure to intervene in the Yunus case.

In 2011, the Bangladesh government removed Yunus from his position on the Grameen Bank Board of Directors, citing certain legal violations and statutory age limits on his position.

During this time, emails between Yunus` associates, the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton, Cheryl Mills, and other State Department staff appear to show a concerted effort to intercede in the Yunus investigation.

The emails demonstrate Secretary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation closely monitored the investigation into Yunus.

The emails also show an effort by the US Ambassador to Bangladesh to arrange meetings with the Prime Minister to apply pressure in an attempt to end the investigation into Yunus.

According to the son of Prime Minister Hasina, Sajeed Wazed, he had a number of interactions with high-level State Department officials from 2010-2012. He recalled that in almost every meeting the Yunus investigation would inevitably come up and that he faced pressure to end the investigation.

Sajeeb Wazed recounted two conversations with then Deputy Chief of Mission to Bangladesh, Jon Danilowicz, during which Danilowicz mentioned that he may be audited by the IRS if he failed to use his influence to get his mother to drop the investigation into Yunus.

He said that sometimes officials from the State Department were apologetic when repeatedly delivering the message concerning Yunus, and made clear that they were just acting as messengers from the highest levels of the State Department.

Furthermore, he was told by these same officials that Yunus was communicating with Secretary Clinton and her staff for assistance and, in turn, Secretary Clinton`s staff put pressure on the Embassy in Bangladesh to intercede on Yunus` behalf.